I just returned from the 2016 summer OR show in Salt Lake City where I was invited to speak on intellectual property issues as they relate to the outdoor industry. The weather was hot and there was plenty of walking along the long Utah blocks. Amid the SUP yoga and many dog attendees were plenty of questions about the value of patents, trademark squatters, and the like.

One area that generated significant interest was how to coordinate utility, design, and utility model filings in one's home market and abroad. While some of the very large filers spend significant effort in their filing strategy throughout the product design cycle, most companies tend to follow an ad hoc approach. The talk provided tips on how companies, including smaller growth-oriented companies, can set up internal processes and checkpoints for making sure they fully evaluate the various filing options in order to match their business strategy.